Page 101 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
the rain and cold. In fact, more rain fell that day than the previous twelve months!
Despite this setback, hardened spectators continued to watch a close fought contest. As the dogs negotiated the obstacles and shook off the excess water, links were re-established with the Cyprus Police Dog Section based at Limassol in order to develop greater working ties between the two units. At this point, Cy Pol had sections at Paphos, Limassol, Larnaca and Nicosia, with about forty 40 working dogs covering AES, Drugs, Tracker and Protection. A good deal of training techniques were adopted from styles used by 3 ADTU over previous years. The Cy Pol also benefitted from training from the US Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency (ATF), where different training methodologies were used, with the AES and Drugs dogs, their training based on food rewards. However, unlike the RAVC training methods that used food reward, their animals had to be worked every day to allow for their normal basic feed scale. This method has the major disad- vantage of having to work the dog every day and results in a greater drain on the manpower of an already small section. The initial training stages teach the animal that it will only be fed with the correct response (sitting), on locating a target odour. The main training equipment used at this stage was the ‘wheel’. Once the dog is able to locate all the relevant target odours correctly, then it is moved to the training wall. This teaches the dog to raise its head and search accordingly, thereby stopping the dog being transfixed on searching at ground level.32
The following year saw the CDASU All Island Working Trials 2002 being completed once again with judges coming from the UK and the Garrison Commander presenting awards, at the end of a close run competition. SPO Hammi Enver and his PAT (Patrol Arm True) dog “Vico”, of the Security Force Police Dhekelia, romped home first.33
This was the year when, in September, Sgt Andy Strange was greeted by members of the Royal Engineers who carried out construction tasks for the garrison. Due to the small size of the kennels four compounds were built behind the kennels to give the dogs much more room. As always there were unforeseen problems, one being the design fault to the metal hatches that were too heavy for the pulley system and the bricks used for the construction of the kennels were hollow and thus the bolts kept pulling out of the wall initially. The
32 Chiron Calling Summer 2001. 33 Chiron Calling Summer 2002. 34 Chiron Calling Summer 2003.
extremely hot weather also made it difficult to lay concrete, so to stand any chance of completing the project most of the work was done overnight. The dogs were reported to be very happy to move into their new spacious compounds.34
Cyprus MWD Support
To assist in the promotion of the Unit’s role and to bring its designation in line with other RAVC Units worldwide, the staffing process was put in place to rename the CDASU – Cyprus Military Working Dog Support Unit on 10th April 2004.
The Unit at this time was assisting Op TELIC by providing 3rd and 4th line veterinary cover and welfare support. An agreement was reached that Cyprus would also hold Battle Casualty Replace- ments for the Unit in Iraq. Allowing the RAVC troops in Iraq to have strength and depth without overstretching their busy handlers. The system was soon tested, and within 48 hours VS dogs were back into Iraq.
Cyprus held three Protection dogs which were regularly rotated in order to prevent any skill fade. Funding was also secured by the OC, Major Hamish Denham RAVC, for the provision of Kennel Assistants (KAs) to help maintain extra dogs in the Unit. The training of the KAs along with others from RAF Akrotiri and Unit members, were also able to attend the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Explosives Instructors courses. Not content with this activity, Sgt Andy Strange was deployed from CDASU, with Cpl Matt Jones from the DAC, to support Op FINGAL in Kabul. In due course, Sgt Strange was being escorted with his dog – that was not compliant with the Pet Travel Scheme – to Romania for an onward flight to Kabul. This was not an easy task with all the Eastern European bureaucracy, involving over nine separate and different offices to approve all the documentation, before the dog could be allowed to go through the airport. Fortunately, perseverance paid off and soon the teams were Operational in Afghanistan. Despite the Unit being undermanned, it stepped up its training delivery to provide Supervisors’ Courses and PTA courses for other handlers such as the SFP and SBA Police.
Sgt Andy Strange had the opportunity to pay his respects to two soldiers of the RAVC who were laid to rest at “Wayne’s Keep” located in the Buffer Zone at Nicosia. Undeterred, he sought permission from the UN Liaison Officer and arranged to meet at Ledra Palace, the HQ
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